


Proposals and Logistics

by luna_libertatis



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Established Relationship, Gladnis Week, M/M, Rated T for swears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 08:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15748230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luna_libertatis/pseuds/luna_libertatis
Summary: Gladnis Week 2018Day 1: "Impulsiveness"An off-hand comment by Noct bumps Ignis and Gladio's relationship up to a whole new level.





	Proposals and Logistics

 

It was a few hours ahead of sunset when the Prince and his retinue headed back toward Lestallum after a long day of successful hunting. The Regalia purred down the road with Noct at the wheel, chatting with Prompto about the photos he’d taken and the pleasing prospect of having earned enough today to enjoy the comforts of mattresses and hot showers at the Leville tonight. 

Ignis was already enjoying himself, indulging in a rare opportunity to sit in the backseat and lean into Gladio’s shoulder as the world whipped by. Gladio was thumbing through the well-worn pages of a favorite novel, when he felt Ignis sit up straight and cover up a small yawn with the back of his gloved hand. Holding his place in the book with a finger, Gladio leaned over and pulled a can of Ebony from the supplies, handing it over to Ignis with a knowing smile.

“My thanks,” Ignis sighed as he cracked open the can and took a restorative swig of chilled coffee. “You’re sure you have enough room back here with that?” he asked, indicating the cooler.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Iggy.”

Ignis frowned slightly. “I could always try just keeping a few in the glove box. Or even going without–“

 

“NO!”  

“No!”  

“No.”  

 

Ignis was taken aback at the immediate chorus of protest.

Gladio smiled. “It’s fine where it is, Iggy. I don’t mind co-habitating with your _other_ vice.” He waggled his eyebrows while Ignis rolled his eyes, Prompto snickered, and Noct made a gagging noise.

“Gross.” Noct mock-glared at Gladio in the rearview mirror.

“Eyes on the road, Highness,” Ignis reminded him, pulling out his phone to check the map, and therefore missing Gladio’s smirk at Noct in the mirror and Noct narrowing his eyes in response before shifting them back to the road as asked. 

“We should be there in about half an hour,” Ignis announced to another chorus of responses, this time pleased murmurs.

Prompto stretched his arms over his head and then sunk a little further back into his seat. “I can’t wait to get to a shower and scrub off all this gunk,” he declared. “How come I’m always the dirty one?”

Gladio deliberately turned his head toward Ignis, who was pressing a gloved fist to his lips to disguise his aborted chuckle as a yawn and who was also pointedly not looking at Gladio lest he lose his composure.

“It’s because you’re the one who gets knocked on your ass the most,” Noct teased, reaching over and playfully shoving Prompto’s shoulder as Prompto stuck out his tongue.

“Ten and two,” Ignis sang out, and Noct returned both hands to the steering wheel in their proper positions with a huff, as Prompto snapped a picture and laughed triumphantly. 

“So. Glaaaadio,” Noct drawled, looking back into the rearview mirror again with eyes full of mischief, “you thinking of hitting up the _Cup Noodle_ truck tonight?”

“Noooo,” Gladio drawled in reply, plastering on a toothy smile “I was thinking maybe we could all go out for _salads._ ”

“Oh, honestly!” Ignis laughed, “you two....” He tipped the can of Ebony to his mouth and finished it off. Gladio wordlessly took it from his hand and added it to the other empties that they’d dispose of in Lestallum.

“Goodness,” Ignis gasped as he saw the physical evidence of his caffeine addiction laid out before him. “That’s rather a lot. We’re not in danger of running out, are we?” 

Gladio laughed. “Iggy, I swear to you, as long as it’s within my power you will never go without a steady supply of Ebony.”

Ignis grinned and rested a hand on Gladio’s knee. “Do that, and I will endeavor to leave space for _some_ of your noodles. Occasionally.”

“Done.”

“Awww!” Prompto cooed, turning in his seat with a grin to snap a picture of them. “How romantic! And after all these years, too!”

“Yeah,” Noct smirked, looking at them in the mirror with a mix of exasperation and affection, “you guys are SO married.”

Ignis’ face went slack for a moment, but Gladio missed it entirely as he laughed and hooked an arm over Ignis’ shoulders, pulling him in to kiss his temple before releasing him to return to his book. Ignis absently tapped at his lower lip, deep in thought, not even noticing as Noct deliberately pushed the Regalia’s speed upward and grumbled in Gladio’s direction.

 

~~~~~

 

When they got to Lestallum Ignis was no longer lost in thought, but rather simmering with tension. Gladio put it down to the usual mix of being tired, hungry, and dirty as they made their way into the city to collect their bounty and head to the Leville. Outside the hotel, Ignis called out to Noct and pressed the money into his hand. “We have enough for two rooms, if you don’t mind, I just need to discuss something with Gladio.”

“Everything ok?” Prompto asked, his eyes darting between the two, and Gladio tried to school his features into neutrality rather than confusion at not knowing what Iggy was on about.

“Everything’s fine,” Ignis assured him, “Just a logistical question I wanted to discuss, nothing warranting royal attention,” he added, raising a placating hand toward Noct. “We’ll be up in a moment, you two settle into your room and start getting cleaned up.”

Prompto and Noct exchanged a look, but went into the hotel without any argument.

“What’s up, Iggy?” Gladio moved to Ignis’ side, settling his hand on the small of Ignis’ back. Ignis looked around them for a moment and then wordlessly reached behind him and wrapped a hand around as much of Gladio’s wrist as he could, setting off toward an alleyway with Gladio in tow.

When they were several steps into the alley –which wasn’t too dirty and which Ignis had clearly chosen to afford them some amount of privacy– he released Gladio and turned to face him, flushed and biting his lip. Gladio chuckled. “You know…we have a perfectly good bed waiting for us upstairs,” he purred, taking a step toward Ignis. 

Ignis huffed and folded his arms, looking away. Gladio could tell he wasn’t angry, rather worried or confused, and his own worry and confusion were building.  “Iggy. Babe, what’s going on? Is it something with Noct? Talk to me.”

Ignis sighed deeply and looked up at the sliver of sky that was visible between the buildings, as if gathering strength. He unfolded his arms and finally looked into Gladio’s eyes, raising his hands in a gesture of frustration as he hissed: “Do you realize that we got married today?” 

Gladio was stunned silent for several seconds as Iggy’s words played over in his head. “…what? Do you mean…what?”

Ignis’ laugh has a slightly hysterical edge to it. “Yes, it’s true,” he began pulling off his gloves, tugging on the fingers for emphasis as he started pacing, “We got _married,_ Gladiolus. _Married._ In the backseat of the _Regalia_ , covered in _saberclaw blood_.” 

“Iggy, we weren’t _covered_ in—”

“That?! _That’s_ what you’re choosing to focus on?” Ignis was clasping his hands over and over and hysterical edge in his voice grew sharper.

Gladio ran a hand through his hair. “I’m just trying to catch up.” Ignis kept fidgeting with his hands, so Gladio stepped forward and pulled one of Ignis’ hands into his, rubbing calming circles into his palm with a thumb. “Ok,” he murmured, “walk me though it.”

Ignis sighed and the much of the tension he’d whipped up in himself melted away. “We exchanged _promises_ , in front of a _witness,_ and then the highest legal authority in the _country_ pronounced that we were _married.”_ He looked up at Gladio and ran his thumb affectionately over Gladio’s bottom lip. “Then you kissed me _.”_

Gladio blew out a quiet sigh across Ignis’ thumb as he processed what Ignis was saying. “Well, shit.” 

Ignis hummed in agreement.

“But Noct was just messing around, he didn’t mean it that way. And don’t you have to have, I dunno, rings and a license, stuff like that?”

Ignis pulled his hand back and took off his glasses, rubbing his hand across his face. “A license, perhaps,” he replaced his glasses and blinked up at Gladio, “though the spoken authority of the King traditionally supersedes the need for that kind of documentation. Rings, flowers, and so forth are pretty gestures, but not essential.”

“How do you even know about all this stuff?”

“For Noct,” Ignis replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “So that I can handle the logistics once we rendezvous with Lady Lunafreya. This wedding was always going to be somewhat clandestine and small, a legal joining only, with a proper ceremony back in Insomnia once the peace was established. Now...well, perhaps the ceremony would best be delayed until after Noct takes back the throne. A joint ceremony to his coronation?  It’s hard enough to wrangle him into formal dress, we may as well kill two birds with one stone, as it were …”

Gladio couldn’t help but smile as Ignis instinctively and seamlessly transitioned from his own distress to planning for Noct’s needs. If he allowed Ignis to keep unspooling his thoughts unchecked he’d likely keep going, laying out plans for every milestone of Noct’s adult life that would call for Gladio to wear a shirt with buttons.

“Well, just don’t seat me next to Ravus.”

Ignis shook himself out of his planning spiral with a  small scowl. “The _point is_ -“

“Like I said, Noct was just messing around. What are you so upset about?”

Ignis made as if to speak, but then snapped his mouth shut.

Gladio groaned and put his face in his hands for a moment before dropping them in defeat. “I dunno, Iggy. I dunno. Being married to you doesn’t sound so bad to me, but hey.” He hooked his thumbs into his belt loops and slouched back against the alley wall.

“Gladio, that...that isn't it at all.”

Gladio looked back up to see Ignis staring sadly at the ground. “Then what is it? You’re the only one who even knows any of that wedding protocol stuff. If it bothers you so much can’t you just, I dunno… _ignore_ it?”

Ignis looked up at Gladio, stricken.  “I don’t _want_ to ignore it.”

“Help me out here, Iggy, what _do_ you want?”

“I want to  _marry_  you!” Ignis’ eyes widened as the admission flew out of his mouth, and he immediately looked down at his shoes, a rosy blush flooding over his cheekbones.

Gladio was once again struck speechless as his heart leapt into his throat. He pushed off the wall and walked toward Ignis, drawn to him, always. He reached out and gently tipped Ignis' chin up so their eyes could meet. He smiled, and moved his hand up to cup Ignis' cheek. “I thought we did that already."

Ignis closed his eyes, huffed out the barest breath of a laugh, and took a half step forward to bury his face in Gladio’s chest. Gladio rested his chin on the top of Ignis’ head and ran his hands soothingly over the rigid muscles in his back. “Yup, pretty sure I heard that. This really smart, really _hot_ guy dragged me into an alley and ranted about it.”

“He sounds like a pill,” Ignis droned, muffled from his mouth being pressed into Gladio’s shirt and chest. Gladio pulled back to be able to look down at Ignis. His clothes were rumpled and sweaty, and there were still bits of mud and grass stuck to his ridiculous shoes. A tiny smudge of someone’s blood had dried on the arm of his glasses, and his bangs were pressed flat against his forehead from where he’d been leaning against Gladio. He was the most beautiful man that Gladio had ever seen.

“Nah,” with a gentle touch Gladio swept Ignis’ bangs away from his skin and leaned down to press his lips to his forehead. “He’s just got a lot going on in here,” Gladio dropped his hand and stroked the backs of his fingers against Ignis’ chest, “and in here.” He felt Ignis start to melt, just a little. “But for the record, because I know how important it is to be precise about these things,” he teased, “was that a proposal?”

Ignis swallowed and fought to keep his eyes on Gladio and not succumb to another fit of shyness. “It was…a statement of intent.”

“I fuckin’ love you,” Gladio laughed as he framed Ignis’ face in his hands and pulled their lips together into a kiss. When they parted to catch their breath, Gladio carded his fingers through Ignis’ tousled bangs once more and jutted his chin toward the entrance to the alley. “Ok. Let’s go get married.”

Ignis huffed a laugh again, while Gladio grinned and shrugged. “I get it, you just didn’t want it to be some weird accident, so let’s do it on purpose. Lestallum’s got a few of those little wedding chapels,” Ignis laughed and shook his head, but Gladio pressed on. “Iris is in town. I’ll call her, we’ll grab the guys. We could do it tonight.”

“You…you’re serious?”

“We’ve got clean clothes upstairs, hell, we’ve got a photographer,” he reached down to take Ignis’ hand again, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles. “Go take a shower; I’ll get you a ring in Altissia.”

“Gladio, we can’t just–”

“Why not?”

“It’s a serious commitment.”

“Iggy, we’ve known we were going to be together forever since we were _six._ This is just me saying that I _want_ to. Look, you and I don’t get to make a lot of choices in our lives, but _this_?” he laced their fingers together, “ _this_ is one of ‘em. And I made it a long time ago.”

Ignis squeezed Gladio’s hand. “Me too,” he whispered.

“See? So, what’s the hold-up?”

Ignis unlaced their hands and reached up to clasp around Gladio’s neck as Gladio’s hands moved to hold him at the waist. Ignis looked thoughtful as his fingers instinctively sought out the tightly coiled curls at Gladio’s nape, the scattering of dark little corkscrews that no one but Ignis ever got to see or touch. After a moment Ignis set his hands flat onto Gladio’s shoulders and made a determined little nod.

“After we shower, I’ll need about an hour to make the cake.”

“Iggy?” Gladio breathed, tears starting to prickle his eyes.

“So that it can be cool by the time we get back,” Ignis whispered, unable to keep the watery tremble out of his voice. He rose up onto his toes to meet Gladio’s mouth in a kiss that warmed him to his bones. Deep, and achingly lovely, with his hands in Gladio’s hair and Gladio holding him steady. Always. When it ended, they were both smiling shyly, reluctant to let go or look away. As Ignis descended back to his flat feet, Gladio pressed his lips to Ignis’ forehead once more, and they both closed their eyes, breathing in the moment.

“Ok?”

“Ok.”

“You know,” Ignis said with a coy look, running his thumb along the scar on Gladio’s cheek, wiping away a stray tear, “if you call your sister right now I can go start the shower and then you could join me.”

Gladio sighed happily and kissed the tip of Ignis’ nose. “You go. I’m saving myself for marriage.”

Ignis couldn’t have held back the laugh that burst out of him if he’d tried, or the look of love written all over his face. “Well, far be it for me to tempt your virtue.” They couldn’t stop grinning at each other as they walked out of the alley, Ignis walking backward toward the doors of the Leville so he could keep looking at Gladio, holding onto his hand until the last possible second. “Muster the troops, won’t you darling?”

“Aye-aye, Captain.” Gladio saluted, tipping his phone to his brow. Ignis laughed again, and only turned away when he had to open the door and enter the Leville.

Gladio walked across the courtyard to sit on the edge of a stone fountain as he pulled up Iris’ number. All around him the city was buzzing with life, with conversation, and laughter, and the faint strain of music. Maybe they’d find a street musician later and pay him to play something for their first dance. Right there in the street, and embarrass the hell out of Iggy and Noct, both. Ignis would make him pay for it later; maybe he should get the kids some earplugs…

Gladio chuckled and dialed Iris on his phone. “Hey Moogle, it’s your brother. Yeah! Good! Yeah, we just got in. So, listen…”


End file.
